🔗 Share this article

An individual was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his jail term raised to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of nine jurors, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his verdict. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was several hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers assembled to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is possibly in the process of that, maybe driven by the collective awareness resulting from the exposure of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “While you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete disturbing social system that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out of home. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a mental health expert that once a year he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers informed the court he had arthritis resulting from the stress of the first trial.